"Mr Fitzgibbon is entitled to express any opinion he wishes but the Government's position, the Government to which I'm part of, is absolutely clear and that is that we are returning the budget to surplus," he said.

But Mr Fitzgibbon said "many in the caucus" would back his stance, adding that Labor has been "spooked" by the Opposition over the budget.

Earlier this month left faction convenor Doug Cameron said he did not want the Government to develop a surplus fetish.

He said the Government should choose to go into deficit if jobs are in trouble.

The Government forecast a surplus of $1.1 billion for 2012-13 in its most recent budget update released in October, which was down from the $1.5 billion predicted in May.

Since then, it has emerged that the mining tax did not raise any revenue in its first three months of operation.

Following the release of the national accounts figures last week, Mr Swan conceded that falling government revenue would make it harder to deliver the surplus.

The Opposition has promised to deliver a budget surplus in its first year of Government should it win the next election.

ABC News asked users on Twitter about what they thought of Mr Fitzgibbon's comments: